Smolder (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #29)(96)

“You want to know if he would have books or other reading material delivered to where he’s staying,” Edward said.

“Oui.”

“Can he see in the dark?” Peter asked. We all looked at him, and suddenly the fourteen-year-old him peeked out from the six-foot-plus twenty-year-old as he fought not to look embarrassed. He ended up glaring at everyone; at fourteen he had looked sullen when he did, at twenty he looked a little menacing. I was strangely proud.

“You’re wondering if he would need light to read by,” Richard said.

We looked at him, but he kept his attention on Peter, and Richard didn’t give a damn if anyone stared at him. “I know he’s supposed to be a different sort of dragon, but some of the dragons we have today can see in the dark and they only hunt at night.”

“Yes,” Richard said, “the prevailing theory is that all the big dragons that were day hunters got killed off by humans.”

“And the night hunters spread into that ecological niche, which is why the fossil record has the ones we know today as smaller,” Peter said.

Richard nodded. “But seeing in the dark to hunt is different than seeing in the dark to read.” He looked around the room. “Leopards see in the dark better than wolves; can you read a book in the dark?”

All the wereleopards in the room looked at each other, and then Rodina said, “We don’t read books to each other in leopard form, Ulfric.”

“But if you tried to, would you be able to see the print at full dark?”

There was another round of looks, and then Ru said, “I’ve read a printed book by near full moon, but it was before electricity spoiled the night so it’s never truly dark.”

“So that’s a yes,” Peter said.

“Good point, Peter, just because we’d need a lamp to read by doesn’t mean that Deimos will.”

“He never came out at night much,” Ru said.

“He didn’t have good night vision,” Rodina said.

“How do you know?” I asked.

“We attacked him at night as leopards, because we do have excellent night vision,” she said.

“You weren’t the Harlequin sent to kill Deimos,” Jake said.

“Officially, no.”

“Then why would you attack him?”

That look passed over their faces that I’d come to realize was their version of exchanging a look without having to actually do it. It was part of their physical shorthand that they used when they didn’t want me to figure something out. It was one of their few tells.

“Tell me why you attacked Deimos at night in wereleopard form?” I asked.

“We were ordered to do it,” Rodina said.

“By whom?” I asked.

“We only ever had one master before you,” she said.

“Why would the Mother of All Darkness want you to attack Deimos at night in wereleopard form?”

“She wanted to know if he was more vulnerable at night,” Rodina said.

“So, you’re letting us brainstorm and plan and you know what will work and won’t work, already,” Richard said.

Ru just shook his head.

“Answer him,” I said.

“It doesn’t work that way,” Ru said.

Nicky said, “Repeat what Richard said, but make it a question.”

I did. “We don’t know what you’re planning so we have no idea if it will work,” Rodina said.

“I order you to tell me if you won the fight that night against Deimos.”

Rodina said, “No,” as Ru said, “Almost.”

“You are Anita’s Brides; you have to tell her the truth if she asks it. We can’t lie to her,” Nicky said.

“You are her Bride completely, but she never finished the ritual with us,” Ru said, “It’s why Rodina can do so many things that make Anita unhappy.”

Jake said, “Ask them if they know how to kill Deimos?”

I did, and they both said no.

“Ask them if they know how to defeat him?” Edward suggested.

“Define ‘defeat,’?” Rodina said. Ru just said maybe.

I was catching on to the game. “Do you know how to defeat Deimos in such a way that he can no longer harm us or challenge us for rule of the vampires in America?”

“Yes,” Ru said, and Rodina nodded.

“Why didn’t you just lead with that?”

“Because the last time we tried to kill him was when Greece was the leading world power in what is now Europe. We didn’t have the technology you do now; if we have to go up against him I’d rather do it from a distance with your LAW or some other device,” Rodina said.

“Okay, that makes sense, but tell us how you did it back in the day, and we’ll combine that with modern tech and see what we come up with,” I said.

“Also, Brides are traditionally sacrificed in battle to save their master, and I’m afraid once you hear what we did you’ll do exactly that with Ru and me.”

“I’m proof that Anita doesn’t do that kind of shit,” Nicky said.

“She’s in love with you, and we’re a source of guilt and remembered trauma for her.”

“I won’t sacrifice anyone on purpose to take Deimos down,” I said.